Content, and text in particular, is normally presented in a static fashion. That is, when a reader reads text and other content in hard-copy form, text and images do not change, and subtle nuances in the meaning of what the author wishes to convey must be expressed through the careful choice of words and the linear, static emplacement of words and images. If readers want to understand better, they can read the identical content twice. Content provided to a viewer on a computer has the potential to overcome this constraint, but this capability is underutilized. A need exists to enhance the capability of electronic media so that dynamic content can be provided in ways that will transcend the limitations of static, linear expression.
The concept that there could be, inside a published work, any commenting “hidden pages” between original pages of text, viewable by the reader only after he or she had read some pages further into the document, is a notion that was so unsuited to—would have seemed unsound in—the old world of paper publishing that probably then it had never been considered, despite the usefulness of the approach.
Recently the capacity for Web-based electronic books and articles to be published in various formats has been proffered by certain electronic publishers. However, a limitation shared by all of these pertains to the publisher's inability to limit dissemination of a document after the sale. Electronic books published by these methods can costlessly be multiplied by buyers, quite easily—even to the extent that some electronic publishers do not caution against the practice.
In a similar way problems are faced by especially corporations and governmental organizations stemming from the evident impossibility of preventing confidential documents—even millions at a time—from being surreptitiously copied to small electronic storage devices by individuals who have had access to these legally at the time but now wish to disseminate them illegitimately. It would be optimal if such documents meant to be circulated to members of a carefully selected “core group” reading list, for instance could be copied only onto one electronic storage device, and then locked onto that device permanently.
And similarly, there may be times when an author or publisher would wish it if certain readers—underinformed but at the same time vain, let us say—who have neither the training nor the temperament to comprehend the work at hand, yet would assume that they did while reading—from being able to access the document easily.
Further, sometimes a publisher or an author might find it ideal if a document when being made available online, could be made non-searchable by conventional search engines.
No means has existed to satisfy any of these needs, till now.